Tape printer



Ja bab 7 1 ;//ck d" BY J. H. DRILLICK TAPE PRINTER Filed 001;. 17, 1950 m ATTORNEYS KMFZEmMJmEI Oct. 7, 1952 Patented Oct. 7, 1952 Jacob. N1 Y- Aphlicaticnflctober 17, 1 5.0,

SGlaims.

This invention relates to tape printing and-v more particularly is concerned with a method; and apparatus by which printing on a single tape maybe accomplished at a considerably greater rate, than has heretofore been possible. For instance, tape, printers have heretofore not generally been capable of printing at'a rate in excess of '500 characters'per minute. By employing my method and apparatus, however, characters may be readily'printed on a single tape at a rate of from. 1000 to 2000 per minute.

Tape printing has agreat many applications the. best known of which perhaps are in telegraphy and the transmission of stock quotations. In both applications, whether the, message to be transmitted comprises a series of words only, or stock. quotations, the message is first printed on a tape, by the sender, in the form eta seriesoi perforations. This perforated tape is passed through a transmitter which. in r sponse to the perforations, onthe tap sends the mes age n the m of el ctrical or radioimpu ses. o a re e ver. The receiver may be, and. in some cases. is... the. distributor of, a telenrin er whi h. d stribut s. the. impulses tn operating pa is of the t lepr n er wh ch then translates them into printed characters on a tape which is passed therethrough. In other cases the. receiver includes a. re-perf rator. hat is. a second tape ispertorated in response o the impulses sent outby the transmitter. 'llhis per! rotated tape-at the receiving station is then fed into a teleprinter which operates in response to the perforations in the.- tape to print the message upon a, tape passing through it. In many cases,

the senders .periorator and transmitter are combined, butthis equipment iorms no part, of my invention. V

In the above system, and in all the systems with which I am familiar and which. are now in use, the limitation with respect to speed, or rate, of printing characters on a tape is in the teleprinter, the transmitting and receiving apparatus being capable of operating at much greater speeds. The object of my invention is, therefore, a method of tape printing and a tape printing apparatus whereby a, message, which-may; now be transmitted and receivedat a much greater rate than that-at-which the present teleprinters are capable of operatin may be transposedinto a printed message on'a single tape as fast as it is received.

Accordingly, my invention contemplates the use 'offa plurality of teleprinters through which asingle tape, upon which the message is to be printed, is passed-in series, each teleprinter serving to printa portion of the characters of the Serial No 190,600

2 i message. The series. of incoming consecutive signals i divided into a plurality of complement tary series of signals, each complementary series being stored and conveyed at the proper time to an individual teleprinter which operates in response thereto. The teleprinters are synchronized in operation so that the totality of characters imprinted on the single tape, passing in series through them, in response to the comple-i mentary series of signals fed to each teleprinter, for a single consecutive series of characters, which constitutes the message, corresponds in order to the original undivided series-oi incoming consecutive signals. The only modification in a standard teleprinter that is essential in orderthatit may be employed in my method and apparatus is in its tape advancingmechanism, for itwill be clear that if the characters are to be imprinted on a single tape at amuch increased rate the tape will necessarily have to be moved through the teleprinters at a corresponding-lyincreased rate. For instance iftwo teleprinters are used to imprint characters on a single tape which is passed through them in series it will be clear that the tape must necessarily be passed through the teleprinters at twice the normal rate. If the teleprinters are at the type in which the tape to be printed is passed through in a stepping motion, then all that needs to be done to adapt them to use in my method and apparatus is to increase the size of the increment of advance, or step, maintaining the incremental or step frequency the same. Thus in using two teleprinters, the size. of the step or increment of advance is doubled, thereby doubling the linearspeed of the tape through the teleprinters.

While, as stated previously, my invention may be employed with a number of different type teleprinters, for instance those which print in response to a series of electrical or radio impulses or those which print in response to a series of perforations a perforated tape, a specific embodiment of the invention employing the latter type will be hereafter described. For this purpose reference may be made'to the accompanying drawing in which;

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the elements of the specific embodiment ofmy invention, and

Figu 2 s a iu th r dia ra ma c r p ntation of two t l pri t rs hr u h h h a ri rated. coded tape and the single ape upon which th message is. t heprinted ar p ssed in series- In. Figure a. se ding .nrinterrner orator ll is illustrated by which amessage to be sent is translated into a series of perforations on a tape II. The perforated tape I l is passed automatically to a transmitter I2 which translates the message contained on the tape into electrical or radio impulses. These impulses are transmitted over a line L to a receiver and re-perforator l3 which prepares a coded perforated tape l4 very much similar to tape ll. Tape I4 is then passed in series through a pair of teleprinters l5 and I6 which imprints the message represented by perforations on the coded tape onto a single tape I! passing in series through them.

Referring now to Figure 2, the dividing into complementary series of the series of consecutive signals on the coded tape and the operation of the teleprinters l5 and I6 will be described. While some teleprinters print upon a continuously moving tape, for simplicity, those illustrated are of the type in which the printed tape is passed through by a stepping motion. Whereas, in such teleprinters the printed tape is normally advanced step by step each step being one space, the teleprinters illustrated vance the printed tape in steps of two spaces. Were three teleprinters used the steps would be three spaces each, etc. It is contemplated that the coded tape upon which the characters are stored will be advanced in synchronism with the printed tape, its advance also being in steps of two spaces each, each space containing one row of perforations representing one signal. The advancing means for the coded tape are illustrated diagrammatically as sprockets l5 and H5. The advancing means for the printed tape are not illustrated but are Well-known and therefore need not be once it is understood that these means are modified to advance this tape in steps of two spaces rather than in steps of one space. The frequency of the step advances of both tapes is of course that which is normal for the teleprinters.

Each of the teleprinters I5 and I6 is also provided with a pick-up head I 5" and [6", whereby the signals represented by perforations on the coded tape I 4 are picked up and fed to the printing mechanisms of the teleprinters. They are also only illustrated diagrammatically because there are a number of different types any of which may be employed.

For purposes of explanation the signals represented by transverse rows of perforations in tape M will be'considered in pairs, for example pair 20 and pair 2|. For simplicity the imprinting of but one word Good on printed tape I! by teleprinters l5 and IE will be described. The pair 20 of signals includes the rows of perforations corresponding respectively to G and and the pair 2| includes the rows of perforations corresponding respectively to O and D. The coded tape it is stepped through the teleprinters so that the first row of perforations of any pair will, when the tape is stationary, be located opposite pick-up head l" of teleprinter l5 and the second row of perforations of a preceding pair Will be located opposite pick-up head l6" of teleprinter l6. Means (not shown) are also provided in each teleprinter for de-activation of its pick-up head during movement of the tape. Thus, despite the fact that all of the transverse rows of perforations in the coded tape will pass under each pick-up head, the pick-up heads will only be operative to respond to one row of each pair, the head I5 responding to the first row of each pair and the head It" responding, subsequently, to the second row of that pair. Thus, in translating are modified to adthe word Good from the rows of perforations representing it on the coded tape I 4 to imprinted characters on the printed tape H, the teleprinter l5 serves (in two steppings of the tapes) to imprint the G and the second 0 leaving a blank space therebetween. When both tapes subsequently have been advanced to the proper positions in teleprinter I'B this teleprinter will print the first 0 of the word in the space left between the G and O printed by teleprinter lii and then will imprint the last letter D of the word.

Normally, both start and stop signals are sent through a teleprinting system, and a teleprinter upon receipt of the stop signal will cease to operate. It will thus be apparent that some provision must be made to keep receiver and perforator l3 and teleprinter [5 in operation at least to keep advancing the coded tape, and in the case of teleprinter l5 both the coded tape l4 and the printed tape l1, until the last character of the message has been imprinted on the tape IT by teleprinter I 6. To effect this, a stop control 22 is provided on printer l0 whereby all of the elements of the apparatus will be maintained in operation for the purpose of advancing the tapes a specified and predetermined number of steps after completion of the message. Thus if, for instance, the teleprinters l5 and I6 imprint characters on the printed tape ten spaces apart, control button 22 will maintain advance of the tapes for ten spaces at the end of a message so that teleprinter l6 may complete the printing of the end of the message on tape I1. Where a number of messages are being sent consecutively andwithout appreciable lapses of time therebetween the use of control button 22 will be obviated, it being intended for use only after the sending of one message when a subsequent message is not to follow in a reasonable time.

If, as suggested in the preamble of the specification, the teleprinters to be used operate in direct response to the impulses sent out by transmitter l2, the re-perforation feature of receiver I3 may be dispensed with and in its place may be substituted apparatus, for instance a series of steppingrelays, whereby the impulses are divided into complementary series, one series being sent to teleprinter I5 and the other stored and conveyed at the proper time to teleprinter l6. With the provision of proper synchronizing means for the teleprinters the same results may be obtained as obtained by the above specifically described apparatus.

While tWo teleprinters have been included in the specific embodiment of my invention dis cussed, and described above, it will be understood that three or more may be employed provided corresponding modifications are made in the tape advancing means and the location of the pick-up head of each. Thus messages may be printed on a single tape by the method of my invention and by my apparatus at rates of 2, 3 or more times that which can now be accomplished by one teleprinter. Furthermore, it is to be understood that there are many modifications which may be made in the apparatus of my invention but it is intended that the invention should not be limited except to the extent set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In. apparatus for printing a message upon in response to a series of consecutive to consecutive characters of the message, means for dividing said signals into two or more complementary series of spaced signal groups, a separate teleprinter corresponding to each of said complementary signal series and responsive thereto, a single tape for receiving printed characters, said tape being adapted to pass through said teleprinters in series, and means for synchronizing the operation of said teleprinters so that the totality of characters imprinted on said tape forms a single consecutive series corresponding in order to the original series of consecutive signals.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 which includes means for advancing said tap through the teleprinters in series.

3. In apparatus for printing a message upon a single tape in response to a series of consecutive signals corresponding to consecutive characters of the message, means for dividing said series of signals into a plurality of complementary series. a teleprinter corresponding to each of said complementary series of signals and responsive thereto, a single tape for receiving printed characters, said tape passing through the teleprinters in series and having printed thereon by each teleprinter those characters of the message corre-. sponding to the signals of the complementary fseries controlling the teleprinter, and means for advancing the tape through the teleprinters so character corresponding to the last signal of the complementary series controlling the last teleprinter through which the tape passes has been printed, whereby the advance of the tape and printing thereon by the teleprinters is not discontinued until the complete message has been printed.

5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3 which includes means for advancing the tape through the teleprinters at a speed which is the product of the number of teleprinters and the speed at which it would be advanced through a single teleprinter if that teleprinter were printing the entire message.

6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3 which includes means for synchronizing the operation oi. said teleprinters so that each is operated at the same time and so that the totality of characters imprinted on said tape forms a single consecutive series corresponding in order to the original series of consecutive signals.

'7. In apparatus for printing a message upon a single tape in response to a series of consecutive signals corresponding to consecutive characters of the message, means for dividing said signals into two or more complementary series of spaced signal groups, a separate teleprinter corresponding to each of said complementary signal series and responsive thereto, a single tape for receiving printed characters, means for advancing said tape through the teleprinters in series until the last teleprinter has imprinted the character thereon corresponding to the last signal of the complementary series to which said last teleprinter is responsive, and means for synchronizing the operation of said teleprinters so that the totality of characters imprinted on said tape forms a single consecutive series corresponding in order to the original series of consecutive signals.

8. Apparatus in accordanc with claim '7 which includes means for advancing the tape through the teleprinters at a linear speed which is equal to the product of the number of teleprinters and the linear speed at which it would be advanced through a single teleprinter if that teleprinter were printing the entire message.

JACOB H. DRILLICK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file'of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,419,256 Hammond June 13, 1922 1,462,875 Stoddard July 24, 1923 

